Top Law Schools

Hi Everyone. I need some advice about choosing a law school.

So far I've been admitted to Northeastern (8.5k/year scholly), New England School of Law (30k/year scholly), Western New England College (30k/year scholly), Roger Williams (full scholarship), Temple (12k/year scholly), Quinnipiac (20k/year scholly), U South Carolina (unknown scholly), Georgia State (no scholly, out of state), UMiami (20k/year scholly). I was waitlisted at BC and Wake Forest. I got rejected from Georgetown.

I'm waiting to hear from BU, Vanderbilt, and Suffolk. If I get into BU, I will have an RA position & won't have to pay rent/utilities.

Wherever I go to law school, my boyfriend will come with me and we'll live together. I've pretty much ruled out Northeastern, Western New England, Quinnipiac, South Carolina, Georgia State for financial/other reasons.

It's really between New England School of Law, Roger Williams, Temple, UMiami, or the ones I'm waiting to hear from.

I visited Roger Williams yesterday and have to say, I liked it. BF and I would both need to get cars, but rent around the area is cheap. I also wouldn't have to pay anything to go there. The faculty were well published and around 90% of them came from top 6 schools. The facilities were new and aesthetically pleasing. The students all seemed to know each other and get along. Also, it's the only law school in Rhode Island, so that may help when it comes to getting a job.

I haven't visited the other schools yet...but what are your thoughts? Would it be a huge mistake to go to Roger Williams?

where do you want to work preferably? NE?

onetimeonly95 wrote:where do you want to work preferably? NE?

I will probably end up wanting to work in New England.

If you're location-neutral, Miami is the best offer on the table right now, imo.

Legal academia is incredibly hard to break into and practically all law professors come from T6 schools, regardless of the law school they teach at. Where the professors come from or where they publish is really unimportant, it's employment prospects that matter. I've never heard of Roger Williams and I have done a lot of research into Northeast/New England placement so I think it's a bad idea. Remember, Rhode Island is a tiny, tiny state and so the size of the legal market is probably overflowing regardless of how many law schools are actually in-state.

New England Law is also a terrible law school and is not worth the money. It has a bad reputation and will probably hurt you more than it will help you.

I agree that UMiami is your best option right now. It places far better than its numbers would indicate in the Miami market and has a good alumni network there. You'll have to commit to Miami for the near future but I wouldn't mind making that commitment (the weather is a million times better than New England!).

Agreed, I've never heard of roger williams. I imagine a lot of people at New England School of Law would love to go to north eastern. I'd look into that. I know it's much more expensive, but I'd say it has (by a long way) the best job prospects of the New England schools you've been accepted to.

I would look into them and placement numbers and tuition and what not.

I too was given a nice sholarship from Roger Williams but I only applied because it was free. I am impressed with the school from what I have personally learned. If you are in the honors program on a full ride it doesn't seem so bad. It appears that they use all of their resources on the honors students since they have significantly higher stats than the regular students. If I had any intention of moving out of CA and could remotely handle the cold I would probably really consider it.